Credits: Article and images by Alexey Kutkovoy @ Quill & Pad. See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2023/10/18/30th-anniversary-of-the-audemars-piguet-royal-oak-offshore-vintage-and-classic-car-rally-models/
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Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore ‘Tour Auto 2009’ edition
The Royal Oak Offshore ‘Tour Auto 2008’, produced in 2008 in an edition of 100 pieces, was followed in 2009 by the new ROO ‘Tour Auto 2009’, also limited to 100 pieces.
The mega tapisserie dial of this watch was made in red and black, reversing the color scheme compared to the ROO ‘Singapore Grand Prix’: Red counters are on the black background of the dial.
The use of a black molded rubber bezel, as on the ROO ‘Rubberclad’ line, further enhances the black and red contrast.
The crown and chronograph pushers have a red rubber coating, just like on the ROO ‘Singapore Grand Prix’ (Ref. 26190OS.OO.D003CU.01). Perhaps in the ROO collection, only these two models have such a rare feature; at least, I could not find any other references that have a crown and chronograph pushers with a red rubber coating.
The Royal Oak Offshore ‘Gstaad Classic 2009’ has a chronograph start button with red rubber coating, which seems to be the only trick of this kind Audemars Piguet has allowed itself.
Audemars-Piguet Royal Oak Offshore ‘Tour Auto 2010’ Ref. 26363ST.OO.D003CU.01, stainless steel, limited edition of 60 pieces
Two other ROO ‘Tour Auto’ editions were released in 2010 and 2012. The 2010 model is also in red and black, but only the outlines of the running small seconds and the 30-minute counter sub-dials on the dial are marked in red. However, that’s not the main thing that draws my attention to this design. Rather, it is two other features.
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore 2010 ‘The National Classic Tour’ edition
First, take a closer look at the case of this ROO: It has a very unusual “technical” embossed bezel. This is quite a rarity, no less than the red rubberized crown and chronograph pushers.
The bezel with the same design is also seen on two other models from the same 2010 vintage rally line, namely ROO ‘Gentleman’s Driver’ and ROO ‘The National Classic Tour 2010’.
Audemars-Piguet Royal Oak Offshore ‘Tour Auto 2010’ Ref. 26363ST.OO.D003CU.01, stainless steel, limited edition of 60 pieces
Second, look at the outer inclined ring of the dial used for the tachymeter scale. There you’ll find an unusual tachymeter scale whose interval from 0 to 11 seconds is marked with a motor racing-style checkerboard pattern, which is unique to this ROO line.
The same design can be found on the ROO ‘Gentleman’s Driver’ and ROO ‘The National Classic Tour 2010’ models.
Audemars Piguet launched all these watches in 2010, so we can assume that all three editions were produced in a single batch – which makes perfect sense for cost reduction reasons.
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Credits: Article and images by Alexey Kutkovoy @ Quill & Pad. See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2023/10/18/30th-anniversary-of-the-audemars-piguet-royal-oak-offshore-vintage-and-classic-car-rally-models/
